Britain’s Johanna Konta lost her fifth straight match as she went down 6-1 6-2 to world number 65 Monica Niculescu at the China Open in Beijing.
The 26-year-old, who is ranked 58 places higher than her Romanian opponent, succumbed in just 64 minutes.
Konta has endured a miserable run since making the Wimbledon semi-finals, winning only twice across six events.
She is currently in the eighth and final qualification spot for the season-ending WTA Finals in Singapore.
Garbine Muguruza, Simona Halep, Karolina Pliskova, Elina Svitolina, Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki have already secured their places, with French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko a place ahead of Konta.
If Konta does make the season finale, she will need a drastic improvement to make any impression against the elite of the women’s game.
Niculescu went out of Wimbledon in the first round this year, losing to Magdalene Rybarikova in straight sets
She lost her serve to love at the first two times of asking in the opening set, before Niculescu held to love for a 5-0 lead.
Two more breaks followed in the second set as Konta ended with 38 unforced errors across 15 games.
Analysis
There were no positives to take from Konta’s performance in Beijing.
She appears to be suffering a chronic crisis of confidence, and a match against Niculescu was one of the worst draws she could have faced.
The Romanian may be 65 in the rankings, but is spectacularly unorthodox. Her signature shot is a sliced forehand, which denies an opponent any pace or rhythm: she is not someone Konta would relish playing even when on top of her game.
As far as qualification for the WTA Finals in Singapore is concerned, Konta is still well placed in the eighth and final position.
The players in ninth and 10th also lost their opening matches, and will no longer be able to overhaul Konta in the last three weeks of the season.
Sloane Stephens, CoCo Vandeweghe and Caroline Garcia are now the players to watch in Beijing. They could all knock Konta out of eighth place – but only by winning the title.
